Gignac
French forward ends goal drought after hypnotism

Tigres' forward Andre-Pierre Gignac saw a hypnotist so he could break a two month goal drought

(AFP/File)

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French forward Andre-Pierre Gignac had gone two months without a goal for his Mexican club Tigres of Monterrey when he got an assist from an unlikely source: A hypnotist.

Gignac met Chile-born John Milton in November after one of his shows, in which he collectively hypnotizes an audience.

The 30-year-old striker had gone 764 minutes without a league goal, his last one from the penalty spot on September 17.

"We could say that he was a little worried," Milton, known as "The Gentleman Hypnotist" who has lived in Mexico since 1970, told AFP.

When Gignac was hypnotized, "he fell into an altered state of conciousness in which some treatment was given," Milton said, without giving details.

In his next game, it only took Gignac four minutes to score against Pumas of Mexico City in the second leg of the quarter-final of the Apertura-2016 tournament on November 26.

In a nod to the hypnotist, Gignac celebrated the goal by pretending to go into a trance and falling to the ground after his team-mate Javier Aquino extended his hand in front of his face. For his second goal, Gignac "hypnotized" his team-mates.

The French international netted two more goals to complete a hat trick in the 5-0 victory.